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EU Law and Integration is a collection of articles written by the author over the course of his eminent career as an academic, an Advocate General, the first President of the Court of First Instance (now the General Court), and now as a Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Some of the contributed articles have been translated from their original language of publication, while others have been written with collaborators. Divided into sections broadly concerning EU constitutional law; the judicial structure of the EU; judicial protection of individuals; competition and state aid; and more general studies in law and economic integration in the EU, this volume has a very broad scope.

As a judge, and an academic, the author provides practical insight as well as keen analysis into the areas of the law upon which he focuses. Articles concerning the judicial architecture of the Union provide some of the most interesting reading in the volume. Writing the Foreword to the book, the Vice-President of the Court of Justice of the EU, Koen Lenaerts, aptly refers to this section as the ‘cornerstone’ of the volume. The author’s analysis of the problems facing the Court of First Instance in its first year has particular historical value and relevance, as he was the founding President of the Court. It is interesting to read – with hindsight – of the first struggles of the Court in terms of administration and the preparation of rules of procedure. The author’s rationalisation of the relatively long length of CFI judgments is illustrative of how the Court of First Instance viewed its duties with regard to the appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Justice. The concluding perspectives on the future of judicial architecture of the EU are also interesting as the author advocated incremental, rather than radical, changes in the judicial system, and the reader is sometimes left to wonder what conclusions he would make in light of the Lisbon Treaty reforms (and whether they were not reforms in name only), and the push towards judicial networking.

Seminal cases concerning economic integration feature prominently in the work, and readers are well advised to read the author’s consideration of the impact of the Pfizer case on the Precautionary Principle in EU law. The author illustrates the early caution show by the Courts which clearly advocated a prudential approach as regards determining the risks for human and animal health, and the environment. While the author acknowledges that this judicial approach probably did not pave the way to the ultimate systemic application of the principle, it did clearly foreshadow it. Readers, however, might be curious as to how the author would consider the Precautionary Principle’s current status under Article 191 TFEU, which does not feature in the republished 2004 article.

This absence of reference to the Lisbon Treaty reforms leads to an issue the reader may experience with this collection. Republished material can seem out-dated, especially in the fast-evolving European Union. Analysis and insight, while apt, would have benefitted in some articles from an updated account, or at least reference to the current situation. The cases analysed in this book, while seminal (for example Keck and Mithouard, Azores, and Alpine Investments) have had a new life in the courts which is not addressed by the book, leaving the reader at some points feeling as if they are missing part of the story. One further example of this is that ‘current case law’ of state aid relates to cases from, at the most recent, 2006. The absence of important reforms to the law over the last five years, most notably in light of Lisbon, also do not feature at all in the book, which can appear odd to the contemporary lawyer.

Perhaps, then it should be considered that the target audience for this volume is not the practitioner seeking the most current account of the law relating to competition law or the judicial protection of individuals, but rather the academic interested in a punctuated account of the judicial development of European law over the last twenty years: as the title would indicate. Academics or legal historians wishing to gain an interesting, and often insightful analysis of seminal case law would be interested in this volume. Though it might be helpful to have a table of equivalences open, to quickly update the Treaty references given in the text.

It is clear that the author has provided a great contribution to the Court, but also to the broader study of European integration. For a reader interested in the judicial development of European Union law, there is much to find of interest in this volume. The republished articles create an account of the history of European integration through judicial application of EU law, and reading many of the articles with the benefit of hindsight can be an interesting experience.